Apparel closure



Nov. 20, 1945. R. ELLIS 2,389,299

APPAREL CLOSURE Filed March 22, 1944 FIGS.

IN VEN TOR.

WAM

Patented Nov. 20, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPAREL CLOSURE Robert Ellis, Belleville, N. J. Application March 22, 1944, Serial No. 527,624

10 Claims.

This invention relates to apparel closures and is a. continuation in part of my pending application on Apparel fasteners, tiled March 27, 1943, Serial #480,749.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to provide an apparel closure in which the closure flaps are secured in closed relation by magnetic means with an elastic element interposed between one or both of the apparel aps and one or both of the magnetic elements.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an elastic projection secured to one or both of the magnetic elements, these projections also having a high co-ei'iicient ofiriction so that the magnetic elements cannot frictionally slide on each other with the same ease as heretofore.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a series of longitudinal armatures on one of the apparel ilaps, these armatures being in the shape of iine iron wires sewed into the apparel material.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a series of transversely arranged permanent magnets in bar form attached to the opposite Ilap, these permanent magnets being arranged so that a plurality of such permanent magnets in each transverse row have their poles in contact with some of the aforementioned longitudinal wire armatures.

Oth'er and further objects will appear in the specifications and will be specifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing exemplifying the invention, and in which:

Fig. l is a front view of two oppositely disposed apparel ilaps equipped with my magnetic closure means, portions of one flap being broken 01T to better illustrate the invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1,-the naps being here shown in closed relation.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of one of the permanent magnets and armature taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view of one of the permanent magnets while the armatures are shown in section.

Fig. 5 illustrates a front view of the two ends of a garter or belt with my magnetic closure attached thereto.

It is Well known to experienced persons that a magnet, while exerting strong tractive force in a direct line towards its armature. can nevertheless be slid transversely thereon with comparatively little effort until only the edges of the magnet and its armature are in contact, at which point a much greater magnetic attraction and holding eil'ort results. This apparent anomaly exists because of the fact that the traction of a magnet increases as the square of the ilux density. While the holding power of a magnet is also directly proportional to the area of the pole faces which are in contact, yet when the area of contact is decreased, the flux density through the remaining contact surfaces is increased by the magnetic lines of force crowding into them and, if the crowding is suilicient that the square of the density is increased more than the area of contact is diminished, the holding power of the magnet is increased by reducing the area of contact. For this reason. a magnet and its armature having a large contact face can be easily slid on each' other in a transverse direction, while with a very narrow armature, such as a. wire, the iiux density is already at its maximum and the magnetic tractive force is also at its maximum and no sliding action is possible. I make use of this magnetic phenomenon by providing a considerable number of longitudinal rows of small armatures over which I cause to contact a plurality of transversely placed permanent bar magnets so that a plurality of magnet poles are in direct contact with a plurality of small area wire armatures, thus greatly increasing the vmagnetic flux density at each point of contact and increasing the tractive eiiort of the magnetic arrangement to a maximum. Furthermore, as the longitudinally arranged wire armatures are slightly separated from each other, there is no possibility of Short circuiting the permanent magnet and greatly reducing its effectiveness as would occur with a large faced armature transversely contacting a permanent magnet over a considerable area thereof. I deem the above desideratum necessary in view of the fact that heretofore all magnetically contact operated devices pull parallel to the magnetic lines of force through the contact point while in an apparel closure the pull must necessarily be at right angles to the magnetic lines of force which' pull causes the magnetic elements to slide transversely on each other, unless the magnetic elements are sufficiently large to be too cumbersome for convenient wearingy permitting the ilaps of the article of apparel to loosen or become dislodged from their original placement. This diiliculty has now been overcome by my hereindisclosed device.

Referring now to the drawing in which' like characters and numerals of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views, the

numeral 8 denotes one of the flexible closure flaps of an article o1 wearing apparel such as a gar ment, shoe, or belt or of any other similarly closed object with flexible closure flaps such' as a purse, brief case or bag, this flap 6 being hereinafter reierred to as the inner flap. Over the outer edge or margin of the inner flap 6 is drawn the inner margin of the outer flapfl in order to close the article, this position being better illustrated in Fig. 2. To the margin of the inner flap is sewed a number of longitudinally arranged soft iron wire stitches t, which may be staggered as shown. Each stitch is also preferably made so that the longer length of each stitch is on the outer side of the inner flap as better illustrated in Fig. l. It will be apparent that these fine iron wire stitches do not appreciably affect the exibility of the flap nor are they conspicuous especially when the iron wire is enameled the same color as the fabric of which the ap is composed. These soft l tion, the strap i2 is sufficiently long to keep the elastic band lli in transverse position, but not stretched, close to the inner surface of the outer flap.

When the aps are to be closed, the margin of the outer flap is drawn over the margin of the inner ilap, as shown in Fig. 2, whereupon the permanent magnets 9 will immediately attract the soft iron wire armature stitches 8 and be magnetically held thereto, it being noted that the pole pieces of each magnet are in direct contact with at least one armature stitch, thus multiplying the tractive effort of the permanent magnets. As the outer flap 'i is loosened from the grip of the wearer at this juncture, it will recede a short distance from the margin of the inner nap but the magnets 9 will retain their original attractive grip on the armatures 8, the elastic band I stretching a corresponding distance to the recession of the outer ap 7, while the short cloth strap l2 will slightly crimp as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2. Thus the article is elastically and magnetically secured in closed position, the elastic band Il! preventing any sudden jerks by the flaps from separating the magnets 9 from their armatures 8. An additional permanent magnet l5 is preferably attached to the inner edge of the margin of the outer flap so as to keep the edge thereof close fitting to the margin of the inner flap. The arrangement hereinabove described permits the article of wearing apparel to be worn elastically tight fitting, medium fitting with elastic termination or loose fitting, which ever the wearer desires and according to the extent of overlapping of the flaps. Should no elastic feature be desired, the elastic bands I0 and the cloth straps l2 may be dispensed with and the permanent magnets 9 fastened directly to the inner surface of the outer ap 1. Letters N and S denote magnetic polarity.

An additional feature of 'my present invention is the use of the soft rubber side strips I 6 attached, as by gluing, to each permanent magnet 9, these rubber strips extending in a direction towards the armature, slightly beyond thel contacting face of the permanent magnet. Thus, when contact is made between the magnet 9 and the armature 8, the force of the magnetic attraction therebetween will depress the soft rubber strip I6 at the point of contact so that, should an oppositely disposed stress be applied to the flaps, the indentation of the rubber strip part way around the armature will resist such lateral pull as also will the much greater co-emcient of friction that now exists between the rubber strip i6 and the iron wire armature 8. With the above arrangement, the dimculty of effectively holding the naps of an article of wearing apparel, where the pull is always transverse to the magnetic lines of force between magnet and armature, has now been overcome. in Fig. l are shown cut away portions, the upper part showing a front view of the outer flap, the middle section the flap removed and showing the elastic bands, while the lower section shows only the magnets.

In Fig. 5 is illustrated a similar arrangement as above described, attached to a garter or belt, the numeral 20 denoting the inner flap or end, preferably of elastic material, 2| the outer flap, while 22 are the fine iron wire armature stitches. In this case it is preferable to lay the armature over the magnets 23 so that the ap 20 will be intermediate the magnets and the skin or body of the wearer. As the pull on theflaps in this case is also transverse to the direct pull of the magnets on the armatures, I provide the rubber strips 24 so as to cause mechanical holding power by compression of the soft rubber over the wire armature and incidentally greatly increasing the friction over the customary metal to metal contact. In Fig. 4 are shown the armature wires I1 which are rubber covered so that a still greater friction will result from rubber to rubber contact when the rubber strips I6 are caused to contact them as will be readily understood.

FromA the foregoing description, it will be evident that I have evolved a means for holding two oppositely disposed flexible aps together by the simple means of laying the margin of one of the flaps over the margin of the other nap and to prevent their pulling apart when transverse stress is applied thereto, during wearing or use of an article, by reason of the elastic means between the magnetic connection and one of the naps, plus the multiplicity of magnetic pole contacts with a multiplicity of small armatures longitudinally arranged in the margin of the inner flap, plus the soft rubber strips attached to each permanent magnet for creating greater friction. Simply pulling the flaps apart with the hand or fingers will open the magnetic closure.

Various changes may be made in the embodiment of the invention hereinabove specifically described without departing from or sacrificing the advantages of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a magnetic apparel closure, an article of apparel provided with an inner flap and an outer flap, means for laying the margin of the outer flap over the margin oi.' the inner nap, an armature attached to the margin of the inner ap, an elastic band having one end attached to the margin of the outer iiap, and a permanent magnet attached to the other end of said elastic band, said flaps being held together in closed position and causing said elastic band to stretch when said permanent magnet is contacted with said armaure.

2. In a magnetic apparel closure asin claim l, the free end of said elastic band being attached to one end of la short inelastic strap which is attached at its other end to the margin ot said outer v element.

4. An apparel closure comprising oppositely disposed flexible closure ilaps, an armature attached to the margin of one of said flaps, a permanent magnet attached to the margin of the other flap, means for overlapping said margins so that said permanent magnet will contact said armature, and a strip of material attached to the permanent magnet or armature or both, said strip of material having a higher co-eiilcient of friction than either the magnet or armature faces and be-` ing so disposed that said strips contact each other when said magnetic elements contact each other.

5. A magnetic closure comprising two oppositely disposed exible closure ilaps provided with margins, a lplurality of permanent magnets arranged in a longitudinal row parallel with and attached to the margin of one of said flaps, and a plurality of longitudinal armatures arranged in transverse rows, each armature being parallel and'secured to the margin of the opposite ilap, means for overlapping said margins so that said permanent magnets will contact said armatures, said armatures consisting oi' exible magnetically attractive wire sewed in stitch form into the material comprising the margin of said nap.

6. A magnetic closure as in claim 5, said ilexible magnetic amature wires being oi' the same color as the material to which it is stitched.

7. A magnetic closure comprising two oppositely disposed ilexible closure iiaps provided with margins, a plurality of permanent magnets arranged in a longitudinal row parallel with and attached to the marginof one of said flaps. a number of flexible armatures consisting ot magnetically attractive wire suiliciently thin to be sewed by stitches into said ilexible ap, each wire armature extending the entire length of said 1ongitudinal row of permanent magnets.

8. A magnetic closure as in claim 7, the said magnetically attractive armature wires having the major portion of said stitches exposed on the surface of said flexible ilap to which it issewed on that side where the permanent magnets on the opposite flap will physically contact samerwhen said aps are in closed position.

9. A magnetic closure comprising two Oppositely disposed ilexible closure flaps each ap provided with a margin, a plurality of permanent magnets arranged in a longitudinal row parallel with and attached to the margin'of one of said ilaps, a number of longitudinal armatures arranged in transverse rows with each amature vparallel with and attached to the margin of the opposite ilap, means for overlapping' said margins so that said permanent magnets will contact said armatures, said armatures consisting of flexible magnetically attractive wires attached to the ilexible margin of said nap by sewing the said flexible wire thereto in stitches with some of said stitches exposed to physical contact by said permanent magnets.

10. A magnetic closure comprising two oppositely disposed closure elements, a magnetically attractive element attached to each closure element, means for applying said closure elements to each other so that said magnetic elements contact each other, and compressible means of high frictional resistance attached to one or both of said magnetic elements. ROBERT ELLIS. 

